Fadly and Yasmin say they had turned away some 150 applicants for Green Market because their products were deemed incompatible to the environmental cause.— Photos: S.S. Kanesan/The Star

THE 2016 Kuala Lumpur Eco Film Fest (KLEFF) is going to tell stories that will push its viewers’ emotional buttons, said KLEFF director Fadly Bakhtiar.

A total of 85 films will be screened with an expected turnout of 6,000 for the three days.

More than just an arty event, the festival has an agenda to mobilise public participation to champion the green movement.

For one, the energy consumption of the entire festival will be recorded with movement sensors to count how many kilowatts are being used in an hour.

The calculated carbon footprint will be offset by the replanting of indigenous tree species in a degraded Sabah forest.

Plastic and polystyrene will be regarded as contraband at the festival. This means visitors will have to bring their own shopping bags if they want to shop at the Green Market, the festival’s merchandise section.

The vendors have all signed an agreement with the organisers not to provide plastic bags, forks and spoons. No bottled water will be sold but there will be a water filling station so visitors can fill up their own drinking bottles.

To handle litterbugs, volunteers have been instructed to pick up trash right in front of the culprits in the most “deliberate” and “dramatic” fashion.

“We are not going to name and shame. It’s more like patrolling.

“We want this to be a fun festival for everyone,” assured KLEFF honorary advisor Yasmin Rasyid.

To make it easy for visitors to discard rubbish, she said five recycling bins had been placed at strategic locations.

Away from the screenings is the MyHIJAU booth which will answer consumer doubts about the authenticity of products that claim to be green.

A total of 85 films will be screened throughout the three-day festival.

This body serves to provide verification and certification to businesses that want to apply green practices to their production and operational processes.

This is a flagship project by Green Tech Malaysia which is endorsed by the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry (KeTTHA).

Its chief executive officer Syed Ahmad Syed Mustafa said the ministry had a target to tag 1,300 products with the MyHIJAU label by the end of this year.

Fadly and Yasmin revealed they had turned away some 150 applicants for Green Market because their products were deemed incompatible to the environmental cause.

The organisers are also insisting visitors make this festival a family affair.

“We are hoping children will come as well because they ask the most questions,” said Yasmin.

Last year, after a film screening, a nine-year-old stood up and asked his father what it would take for him to stop hunting.

Yasmin also recounts an episode after the screening of David Fedele’s Bikpela Bagarap (Big Damage), which won the KLEFF Audience Choice Award in 2012. Chagrined by the atrocities committed by a logging company in Papua New Guinea, the audience collected RM800 within 10 minutes and passed their donations to the film-maker who in turn used the money to buy medication for the affected community.